macnn
12/17/2007, 10:20am, EST
Monday, December 17th
AmTech: 3G for iPhone is 'niche technology'
Although a 3G iPhone has been guaranteed for 2008, its importance has been overrated, says Shaw Wu of American Technology Research. HSPA 3G is intermittent in Europe and Japan, Wu says, let alone in the United States; so while the technology can offer speeds up to 3.6Mbps (through the likes of AT&T), users end up defaulting to 2G technologies such as EDGE most of the time. 3G also comes with increased costs: parts such as power amplifiers may add as much as $15 to the price of building a phone, an amount that may then be saddled onto the backs of shoppers.
As Apple itself and other analysts have noted, 3G is additionally a sharp drain on batteries, consuming between 35 to 40 percent more power than standard data access. Apple is unlikely to implement 3G until it can provide as much battery life as the current iPhone.
Wu says that based on information from supply chains, a 3G iPhone will only ship in the middle of 2008 at the earliest, possibly later as demands dictate. In the meantime, Apple stock is expected to continue increasing within the next six to 12 months, reaching a target value of $210.
Filed under: iPhone, Investor, Apple
Other story tags: 3G, HSPA
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I cannot believe ATT actually said that their polls show iPhone owners are satisfied with the data speeds they currently receive. What a joke.
If I did not love the phone so much, I would not put up with waiting minutes for web pages to appear. I'm just glad most of my clients have WiFi, but on the road, I'm always stuck with GPRS.
Over rating is an understatement of speed by ATT.
And I am very happy with my data speeds.
To the poster above, so you have no "E" inside the blue box. It was my understanding that the network did not allow GRPS access with the iPhone. Heck, before 1.1.2 the iPhone itself did not allow it. It was done so for the Euro countries were Edge really is thin.
Well, the head of AT&T said it would be available in 2008. Sounds like a guarantee. And I believe Jobs also stated as much earlier this year.
And Wu is a god damn moron talking out of his ass. All 3 of Japan's major carriers (Softbank, DoCoMo, and AU) operate networks that are EXCLUSIVELY 3G. Softbank and DoCoMo are 2100 UMTS WCDMA, and AU is 800/1900 CDMA/EVDO. On top of that, over 90% of subscriber's handsets on AU are 3G, and about half of current susbscribers on DoCoMo/Softbank have HSDPA capable phones.
There is no GSM in Japan. Anywhere.
And it's HSDPA, not HSPA. Idiot discredits anything else he has to say right there.
Idiot comments that 3G is niche ... I think he must want to generate hits